1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for exercising specific parts of the human anatomy, and more particularly to improved exercise apparatus which enables a compound exercise movement for conditioning a cross-section of muscle groups in a general, full body workout.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
Exercise machines of all shapes and sizes are well known in the prior art. One particularly effective full body exercise apparatus according to this prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,099, entitled "Variable Resistance Exercise Apparatus" and granted on Mar. 1, 1988 to John H. Pitre. Such apparatus generally provides a longitudinally oriented frame having a front end and a rear end, a seat carried on the frame in a forward facing position such that it is capable of carrying a user in a forward facing position with respect to the frame, a foot rest carried by the frame forward of the seat and adapted to receive, in use, the user's feet with legs in a generally forwardly extended position, a pair of hand engageable push/pull handles having one handle located on each of the right and left sides of the seat, each handle being carried by the frame for longitudinal movement approximately between at least the longitudinal positions of the seat and foot rest and for lateral movement approximately between at least a juxtaposed central position and a separated position, a variable resistance apparatus employing a flywheel with centrifugal clutches for variably opposing forces applied longitudinally to the handles, and a diverting mechanism for laterally and yieldably redirecting a portion of forces applied longitudinally to the handles. The push/pull handles pass through a center of balance at an intermediate point of longitudinal travel and, when moving forward of such center, apply gravitationally assisted inertia to stretch the user. A leg exerciser operates from the same flywheel to simulate the full range leg movement of steep climbing.
While commercial embodiments of such apparatus according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,099 have achieved a great deal of success, they are relatively difficult and expensive to manufacture, equally difficult and expensively set up and used, and mechanically complex in their design so as to require complicated flywheels and the like.